Man banned from taking pet timber wolf for walks after it killed hen house full of chickens

Banned: A man has been banned from walking his timber wolf after it attacked chickens (Image: CEN)

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A man has been banned from taking his pet timber wolf for walks after the animal attacked and killed a hen house full of chickens.

Police said they had received complaints before that a local man had a pet wolf which he was in the habit of taking for walks on a lead around town Los Cabos, in the west Mexican state of Baja California.

But they only questioned Jimeno Orta Montero, 46, after complaints about missing chickens from neighbours who blamed the wolf for their disappearance.

Police spokesman Christian Torrez said: "We received a complaint that a man had a pet wolf that had been killing chickens in the area, and when we turned up we discovered an animal that looked remarkably like a wolf in the man's yard.

"When we questioned him he admitted it was a Canadian timber wolf, which he said was a better pet than a dog.

"We also found that the man was not content with a domestic cat, and had an adult red lynx that was being kept in a cage on the property.

"However there was nothing that we could do after the man produced all the correct paperwork, so we handed the matter over to the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa)."

Wild Animals: The same man also had an adult red lynx as a pet, which is kept in a cage in his home (Image: CEN)

A Profepa spokesman confirmed that the animal owner was licensed but they have issued a ban on him walking the wolf on a lead around town, and told him it needs to be kept locked up as well from now on.

Montero said: "I had both of them castrated which calmed them down but no matter what I did I couldn't stop the wolf from chasing poultry.

"It doesn't matter whether it was ducks, geese and chickens, as soon as he saw them, he was off."

His statement was backed up by wolf breeder Jade Orchid who said: "Wolves make great pets and are especially good around children as they are very protective.

"But the one thing that you cannot do is keep wolves around any poultry. They can and will slaughter every chicken, duck and goose in sight."

The pet owner was also ordered to compensate his neighbours in the city of Los Cabos, in the west Mexican state of Baja California, if he didn't want to face prosecution.

This isn't the only wolf in the news today - a bizarre video has emerged in the Netherlands of a lone wolf stalking a city suburb as it hunted for its next meal.